To rate a billiards player is to take a measure of his skill. To handicap a billiards player is to adjust the score of a game at its beginning in order to compensate for a perceived disparity in skill (so as to promote a competitive match). Rating billiards players is important and useful not only for the individual wishing to compare his skill with others and to measure his own improvement, but also for event organizers attempting to classify or handicap participants. Billiards is different from other sports and presents unique challenges for those attempting to rate and to handicap competitors.
Eight-ball (or 8-ball) is the most recognized and popular pocket billiards game in the world. It is an interactive game requiring two players or teams, and usually played for recreation or at the amateur level or in some pocket billiards leagues. Standard Eight-ball is played with 15 balls numbered 1 through 15. There are two groups of balls: numbered balls 1 through 7 which have an overall generally solid color (called “solids”), numbered balls 9 through 15 which have a stripe (called “stripes.”), and the 8-ball which is solid black. The game is won by a person or team pocketing all the balls in one of the two groups and plus the 8-ball.
At the start of the game, all 15 balls are racked at the foot-spot of the table with the 8-ball in the middle, and 1 solid ball and 1 stripe ball on the corners. The remaining balls are racked at random. See FIG. 1. The player breaking the balls must pocket a ball on the break in order to be permitted to continue shooting. If a ball is not pocketed on the break, then the other person or team may shoot, and turns alternate until a ball is legally pocketed. The table is considered to be “open” so long as no ball has been pocketed legally after the break. Once a player legally pockets the first ball, the group (solids or stripes) to which that ball belongs becomes that player's or team's “choice group”. The other player or team takes the other group. The first player or team to legally pocket all seven balls of their own group and then the 8-ball wins the game.
Nine-ball (or “9-ball”) is played with 9 balls numbered 1 through 9. The object of the game is to be the first to legally pocket the 9-ball. At the start of the game, the balls are racked in a diamond shape with the 1-ball at the front, the 9-ball in the middle, and the rest placed at random. See FIG. 3. One player breaks the balls and may continue to shoot so long as they legally pocket a ball in each shot (including the break shot). In 9-ball, any ball that goes into a pocket is legal so long as the player hit the cue ball into the lowest numbered ball on the table first and the cue ball did not go into a pocket (called a “scratch”) and the player did not otherwise foul. Thus, 9-ball is not a called shot game. Any time a player fails to legally pocket a ball, the opposing player shoots next and plays the table as the balls lay. If the player scratched, or fouled, the incoming player can place his cue ball anywhere on the table and begin his turn from that point.
Ten-ball is played with 10 balls numbered 1 through 10. At the start of the game, the balls are racked in a triangle shape with the 1-ball in the front, the 10-ball in the middle, and the rest placed at random. See FIG. 5. The game is played much like 9-ball, except the game is won when a player legally pockets the 10-ball at any time (including the break).
Score is generally kept in these games by recording a simple win or a loss. However, it is known to use a point system in 8-ball or 9-ball. In an 8-ball point system, each ball is worth 1 point and the 8-ball is worth 3 points (with a total of 10 points possible). In a 9-ball point system, odd numbered balls are worth 1 point and the 9-ball is worth an extra 6 points (with a total of 11 points possible). A range of various statistics may also be recorded, such as number of balls pocketed, errors, innings, points scored, shots taken, open shot opportunities, no shot opportunities, and number of times the 8-ball, 9-ball or 10-ball is made on the break.
Many ratings and measurement systems and methods exist for rating pocket billiard players playing on bar tables and regulation tables, and playing well-known billiard games such as Eight-ball, Nine-ball and Ten-ball. It is desirable to use a universal ratings system that measures and rates each player when they are performing at their best and is able to filter out play under adverse condition by taking into account a large number of consecutive events that provide the basis for the rating system for the particular billiard player. However, all known prior art pocket billiard player rating methods have at least one out of four disadvantages. These reasons are: 1) they do not use an uninfluenced statistic as the only rating component to score the game and to rate the player; 2) the billiards game must be altered from its universally recognized form; 3) the rating is not expressed in easily understood scoring increments; and 4) the player rating is not portable.
First, an influenced playing statistic should not be used as the rating component because the rating of a player could be influenced by the performance of his opponent. Because Eight-ball, Nine-ball, and Ten-ball are interactive games, in which players take turns trying to win each rack, all of these factors (balls pocketed, errors, wins, losses, etc.) are affected by the performance of a player's opponent. For this reason, all existing prior art rating systems based on the score of a game of Eight-ball, Nine-ball, and Ten-ball use an “influenced” number for rating component. In particular, it should be kept in mind that, in many leagues and other situations, it is the players themselves who are expected to keep track of the score. Players are frequently unpleased to record a compilation of statistics and regard it as burdensome and a nuisance. Players will also forget to record these kinds of statistics, and opponents are unlikely to ensure that the recorded statistics are accurate unless the statistics are related to the score. Thus, any prior art rating system for Eight-ball, Nine-ball, or Ten-ball which requires keeping track of the number of innings in a game or other statistics, have this disadvantage.
Secondly, the game that is used as the basis for the rating system should be universally recognized and substantially unaltered. Some players find it objectionable if a rating system causes them to play a new, previously unknown, game particularly if it is substantially different. In particular, the game should remain interactive, which means that the game must be played by two or more opponents who can affect one another's play in some way. In pocket billiards, this means that one player finishes his turn, leaving the balls in particular positions and then his opponent must begin his own turn with the balls in those same positions. Only interactive games are widely used in pocket billiards tournaments and leagues. Much effort has been spent attempting to introduce non-interactive, solo-scored games to the pocket billiards community. These games have never proven palatable and have never gained popularity. If a rating system is to be successful for Eight-ball, Nine-ball, and Ten-ball, the method of play must be interactive.
The rating designation should process the players' statistics so that a player's rating is expressed in easily understood scoring increments. If the generated player ratings are presented in a way easily related to the increments in which a player scores the game, then the meaning of the ratings is understandable to the player, and he or she can easily relate his performance in the game to the rating component that will determine his player rating. Were the player rating to contain other ratings such as “power points”, percentages, win-loss averages, and skill levels, the relation between a player's performance in the game and their statistics would not be obvious to him or her.
Finally, the player rating should accurately measure and reflect the skill of a pocket billiard player while remaining portable. The rating must have significance outside of the pool of opponents within which a player typically plays. An important function of a player rating is that it provides a way to compare a player's skill with others outside of his immediate community, especially for the purposes of tournaments and leagues. This is particularly the case when the universal rating is used to handicap a pocket billiard player by, for example, adjusting the score of a match in order to compensate for disparity in skill (so as to promote a competitive match). The accurate rating of players is important and useful not only for the individual wishing to compare his skill with others and to measure his own improvement, but also for event organizers attempting to classify or handicap participants.